The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1887-01-12
Seletteo Storp.
The Skipper's Strange story.

Whydah. coast of Guinea, for Barba-
does with cargo of slaves, as he had
done before; but he had hardly crossed
the Blight of Benin when the schooner
was struck by white squall and thrown
on her beam-ends. All the white peo-
pie on board were on deck at the time
except one passenger, and with them
there were few trusted slaves, who
were employed in various ways. The
rest of the slaves were confined below.
The schooner had but one small boat,
which was taken possession of by the
captain, mate and four hands, who
loaded her so deeply that they were
forced to push off, leaving seven souls,
white and black, clinging to the vessels
bottom. They had four oars, a few
gallons of palm oil, but no sail and no
bread and water. A tarpaulin found
under a seat was rugged for sail, and
in this unpromising condition they
headed for the shore they had recently
left. The sea was still running high,
and frequently came on board. The
sun beat down upon them with terrible
force, and all but one man and the
mate died raving mad before there was
sight of land. At last the survivors
were cheered by the outline of a low
shore, which they made a desperate eff
fort to reach, and as night again closed
in they ran under the shadow of over
hanging trees, where all was marsh
the home of fevers and the abode of
serpents. On every hand it was low
jungle, in which no white man could
hope to live; an impenetrable under
growth of ferns, young palms, climb
ing vines, rattans, the thick-leaved
ficus, and tall gum-trees woven to-
gether. To penetrate it was hopeless
task, and, after pushing further on the
next day, and crossing many arms of
what appeared to be the mouth of a
river, they found a place to land.
There they killed number Of snakes,
which they devoured. On this spot
there was another death, and the mate
was the only survivor. He was re-
duced to shadow when some natives
found him and took him, with his boat,
to them prize, to their village, Wari,
where there was a mission station.
Once there he could hardly trust his
senses, for he heard voice speaking
English, and saw before him a comely
Engishwoman, the wife-widow, for
she had been bereft few days be-
fore-of a missionary who had labored
in that unpromising field. The mis-
sionary had been carried off by tiger,
and his widow, half-crazed by her sud-
den and terrible loss, was in no condi-
ton TO do much for shipwrecked
mariner; buthis haggard face, shrunken
limbs and woe-begone looks aroused
her sympathies, and she gave him food
and garments and the medicine he
needed.
The village was made up of kraals
and wigwams covered with thatch of
leaves. The mission, removed but one
degree from such abodes, was a low
cottage of waffle, by contrast neat and
attractive. 1t had but little furniture
a few stools, table, skins and coarse
mats, and in the part that might be called
the kitchen wooden spoons, gourds and
and the like hung on the walls. But the
charm of the place was its flower gar
den-not native flowers, but flowers that
carried the missionary and his wife
back to where they had spent their early
days, and were grown from seeds they
had brought with them, or were sent
out in letters from time to time by dis
tant notwithstanding beans, tufts
of rocket and sweet William, nodding
sprays of ragged-sailor and spikes of
foX-glove, bee-larkspur, hollyhocks of
many colors, and marigolds and asters,
all growing together Red clover, beds
of roses and balsam shared the ground
with the humble but no less valued cat
nip, motherwort and golden-rod: while
honeysuckles and woodbines chung to
what was intended for a porch, and
which was as like one as the missionary
could make it with the materials at
hand. 1t was these flowers, objects of
love and admiration, that softened the
lot of the missionary and his wife and
made them forget many of the priva-
lions they had to bear. And il was
while seated on this low porch, in the
cool OF the evening, enjoying his pipe
his only indulgence-that he was seized
by tiger and carried off Traces of
tigers had been repeatedly seen in the
flower garden, and some of the negroes
had said, with trembling limbs, that
they had seen one there; but the alarm
was never given in time for the mis-
sionary and his wife to catch sight of
the dreaded creature. The presence of
such a terrible foe in the immediate
neighborhood sent chill to every
heart, for they were powerless to con-
tend with him, having only one shot
gun. There was constant dread that
he would suddenly burst upon them;
and when, with a bound, he carried
off the head of the house, they were
paralyzed.
The mate said he would do what he
could to drive off the monster: but al
most before he had time to take ii all in
the tiger again appeared, as he sat on
the doorstep Illuminating. The creature
this time did not come with glaring
eyes, intent on his prey, but was spirit
less and evidently i'll, and for long
time Oo one caring to go out and drive
him Off he lay in part of the garden
he had frequented before, apparently
munching something.
The next morning the mate care
fully examined the spot and saw that
the tiger had confined his attention TO
the catnip bed. Here was a revela-
ton, and from it the mate was quick to
draw conclusion. "Cats," said he
to himself, "love catnip, eat of it
freely and always turn to it when all
ing. A eat" he went on, is dim
inutive tiger; tiger is a monstrous
cat; whether large or small, cat or tiger,
they have one taste in common-a love
of catnip."